Maria earned her master's degree in molecular biology from the Faculty of Science, Zagreb, Croatia. She obtained her PhD in Biomedicine at the School of Medicine, University of Split, Croatia, under the supervision of Prof Janos Terzic. During her doctoral program, Maria received EMBO and FEBS scientific STF grants. These grants enabled her to undergo professional training at the International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon and the Institut Curie, Paris. In 2023, Maria joined the Dikic lab as a postdoctoral researcher. She focused on the mechanisms underlying accelerated ageing and cancer susceptibility in the progeroid mouse model.